Optical frequency comb and picosecond pulse generation based on a directly modulated microcavity laser

Abstract

Optical frequency comb (OFC) and picosecond pulse generation are demonstrated experimentally based on a directly modulated AlGaInAs/InP square microcavity laser. With the merit of a high electro-optics modulation response of the microcavity laser, power-efficient OFCs with good flatness are produced. Ten 8-GHz-spaced optical tones with power fluctuation less than 3 dB are obtained based on the laser modulated by a sinusoidal signal. Moreover, the comb line number is enhanced to 20 by eliminating the nonlinear dynamics through optical injection locking. Owing to the high coherence of the OFC originating from the directly modulated microcavity laser, a 6.8 ps transform-limited pulse is obtained through dispersion compensation. The optical pulse is further compressed to 1.3 ps through the self-phase modulation effect in high nonlinear fiber.

Optical Bistability in a Tunable Gourd-Shaped Silicon Ring Resonator

“…When the light passes through an optical microcavity, a complex nonlinear interaction system may be formed due to self-phase modulation [ 11 ], two-photon absorption [ 12 ], free-carried absorption [ 13 ] or thermo-optic effect [ 14 ]. For the silicon ring resonators, optical bistability caused by the two-photon absorption effect has been studied, which could be used for logic gates and suitable for flip-flops’ structure [ 15 , 16 ].…”